Mesh-enforcing means for engine starter gearing



Oct. 27, 1959 R. E. SMITH 2,909,932

MESH-ENFORCING MEANS FOR ENGINE STARTER GEARING Filed July 8, 1957 2 SheetsSheet 1 M? N I w ll HI 5% 1 m if a} f wk w E n 2 I l H WITNESS:

Oct. 27, 1959 R. E. SMITH MESH-ENFORCING MEANS FOR ENGINE STARTER GEARING Filed July 8, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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STARTER GEARING p Richard Smith, Elmi a, ty sg imr op gjgk' nantion Corporation, Elmira'lfeights; N.Y:,'- a 'corporation 'of Delaware Application july 8,-

- -6- crane." (omens The present in ntioiirelatfs'to for engine starter gearing an find vice for indexing the pinion "of a h at shift in case of tooth abutment with itive' 'in' action,

sturdy in consumerism "anasirnfir aride'ctihoini'car'to Q manufacture. I t k It is another object to provide. such a device wliih is actuated mechanically by the shifting means for the starter pinion. I

the indexing means disconnects "itself' from the' 'sliifting means at the end of the indexing stroke, and automatical- 1y returns to operative position up'oirrelease df the'lshifting means.

It is another object to provide such a device in which it is made impossible to close the starting motor circuit until after the pinion has been meshed with the engine gear.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away and in section, of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail in elevation of a portion of the indexing means looking from the left in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail of the indexing means viewed from above in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a detail in perspective of the operating lever of the indexing means.

In Fig. l of the drawing there is shown a housing 1 adapted to be mounted in any suitable manner on the end of a starting motor, only the armature shaft 2 of which is illustrated. The shaft 2 has an outboard bearing 3 in the housing 1, and has a starting pinion 4 slidably journalled thereon for movement into and out of mesh with a gear 5 of the engine to be started.

Means for actuating the pinion is provided comprising 5 a sleeve 6 which is slidably mounted on a splined section '7 of the armature shaft. A barrel member 8 is formed to surround a flange 9 on the end of sleeve 6, and is swiveled to the extended hub 11 of the pinion by means of a split thrust ring 12 whereby the pinion is coupled for axial movement with the sleeve 6.

An overrunning driving connection from the sleeve to H t v a It is another object to"pfbvidesitdhh device in which is I 9,932 lC .P f gtented 2.7 1959 2 the pinion serene-ea ear-retransmitted projeenams 13 v e flange 90f the Sleeve mesh withsiinil'ar rintefrm'j ediate' coupling member 15.

the ndo'f the The sleeve an by rheah's "o'fa clutch spring '18. r as 'siiiblyi's slid onthean'r'iatuie shaft to move the pinion "4 into and but of 'ii'le'shwith taeenginegeare teens are fork member 1 9"mounted 101'1 alled in the htiu'siiig" 1 the tines of 'tli' foik teii niiiat'iiig' iii rollrs engaging m a flah'g'ed collar 23 fixedly mountedonfieendof thesleev ef6 by 'meaheor alock 'vvhich holds the collar against a 'shdirlderZS on said sleeve.

' The-shaft 21' is-ceinietea t o 'swing the fork 19 by means of ape-'1 2'6Wvhich is edly mounted i'nthe shaft nd-engages "in 81 0 s" 27 n the'head 28' 6f the fork, 'which slot s permit a few" deg'ie'e's'df lost motion between the shaft zl "foik; 19.

An operating arm 29 (Fig 2) is fixedly in'ounted on an eaten to cau s e the pinion 4 t'o mesh with the eh'gine gear 5.

{arrangement seen k'now'nin th'e art, it is be- 7 V p tion thereof is unnecessary.

g P index-the pr on 'ut entsabutting position.

For tliis"ph ose, th end tif' th'eshaftQI bppOsite to the arm 29 is slotted as best seen in Fig. 2, "(1' 3 lever i 4 b't" y means substantially perpendicular to the shaft 21 by means of a spring 36 confined on the shaft against said lever by means of a thrust washer 37 retained on the shaft by a cross pin 38.

An indexing plunger 39 (Fig. 2) is slidably mounted in the casing 1 in vertical alignment with the free end of the lever 34 when in its normal position, and is urged toward said lever by a spring 41. A pawl tip 42 is pivoted on the inner end of the plunger 3-9 by means of a pin 43 and is normally maintained in alignment with the plunger by any suitable means such as a spring pressed detent ball 44 engaging in a depression in said tip.

The pawl 42 is formed with teeth 45 arranged to engage teeth 46 of a ratchet wheel 47 which is non-rotatably mounted on the splined section 7 of armature shaft 2 and prevented from longitudinal movement by means of thrust rings 48, 49.

In operation, movement of the arm 29 by the operator in a counter clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 actuates the fork 19 to move the assembly of collar 23, sleeve 6 and pinion 4 to the right, and mesh the pinion with g the engine gear 5; after which the stud 33 closes the starting switch in the usual manner to cause the engine to be cranked. If however, a tooth of the pinion 4 should abut against a tooth of the engine gear, the shifting movement is arrested and the motor is not energized.

In this case, the operator then, permits the arm 29 to .return to its idle position by means of the usual return spring, and again manually actuates the arm. The consequent rotation of the shaft 21 moves the lever 34 to depress the indexing plunger 39, causing the teeth 45 of pawl 42 to engage the ratchet wheel 47 and thereby totate the armature shaftslightly and thus move the pinion- I of indexing plunger 39 is formed with an inclined face 48 as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, so that as the lever 34 actuates the plunger 39, the final movement of the lever causes a correspondingly slanted surface 49 on the end of said lever to engage the surface 48 of the housing whereby the lever is rotated on its pivot 35 out of alignment with the plunger 39 as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, thus permitting the plunger to be returned to its idle position by its spring 41.

It will be understood that if the spring 41 should fail to return the plunger 39 to idle position for any reason the teeth 46 of the toothed wheel 47 will simply ratchet past the pawl teeth 45 until the condition is corrected by the operator. lf a backfire should occur under these circumstances, the pawl plunger will simply be forcibly returned to its idle position by the engagement of the ratchet teeth.

The return movement of the plunger causes the pawl 42 to be returned to its normal aligned relation to said plunger by engagement of a lug 51 on the pawl with a shoulder 52 on the housing. The proper orientation of the pawl with respect to the ratchet wheel is maintained by means of a pin 53 which engages slidably in a guide solt 54in the housing 1.

It will be understood that the lost motion between the shaft 211 and fork 19 as permitted by the slots 27 in the head 28 of said fork permits sufiicient rotation of the shaft '21 to perform the indexing function while the sleeve -6 and its associated parts are prevented from axial movement by the tooth abutment of the pinion 4.

Although but one form of the invention has been shown and described in detail it will be understood that changes.

may be made in the design and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. Starter gearing for internal combustion engines comprising a power shaft, a sleeve splined thereon, a pinion slidably journalled on the shaft, means for coupling the sleeve and pinion for axial movement in unison, an overrunm'ng clutch connection from the sleeve to the pinion, means for shifting the sleeve axially to move the pinion into and out of mesh with a gear of the engine to be started, and indexing means for the power shaft including a ratchet wheel keyedon the power shaft, an indexing pawl and means actuated by said shifting means for moving the pawl tangentially into engagement with the ratchet wheel by meshing movement of said shifting means. 7

2. Starter gearing as set forth in claim 1 including fur- I ther, means for disengaging said pawl from the shifting means and returning it to idle position before the end of the meshing stroke of the shifting means.

3. Starter gearing as set forth in claim 1 in which the indexing pawl is in the form of a sliding plunger having a toothed tip pivotally mounted thereon for engagement with the ratchet wheel, a detent resisting pivotal movement of 'said' tip, and means for retracting the plunger and aligning the tipf'with the body of the plunger.

4. Starter gearing as set forth in claim 1 in which the indexing means includes a pivotally mounted lever rotated by the shifting means for actuating the indexing pawl, and means for deflecting the lever from the pawl prior to the end of the meshing stroke of the shifting v References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,363,003 McGrath Dec. 21, 1920 1,720,945 Chryst July 16, 1929 1,762,631 Jackson June 10, 1930 

